The List: 5 Jul 2001 (Issue 417)

With Show Me Love and Together LUKAS MOODYSSON is being hailed as the new Ingmar Bergman. So why is the young Swedish filmmaker miserable about Words: Stephen Applebaum

he idea of receiving a letter from Ingmar

Bergman congratulating you on your first

masterpiece sounds like the sttiff dreams are made of. But that is precisely what happened to Swedish poet-turned-lilmmaker. Lukas Moody'sson. following the release of his I998 debut feature. Show Me Love. originally titled l’ut'king .-lmul.

The critics were equally rapturous in their praise. Here was a man who could lead Swedish cinema otit of the shadow of Bergman. and into a new era. \loodysson’s second film. 'liigt'I/u'r. a brilliant. ambiyalcnt portrait of life inside a 7()s commune. has only strengthened this \‘iL‘W. Iloweyer. the man himself is uncomfortable about being cast as I)ayid to Bergman’s (ioiiath.

‘I feel sad that in Sweden people are putting Bergman - down a lot.' he says. when we meet at the Berlin I5i|m I-‘estiyal. ‘IIe‘s old. and. I think. quite alone. It must he depressing for hitn to sit alone in this big house on this island. and read in the papers the whole time that people are happy his days are finally oyer.‘

Moody'sson has good reason to be sympathetic. Despite the widely acknowledged excellence of his work. Moody'sson's reluctance to become the torch carrier for a new trend. together with his attacks on fellow filmmakers such as Roy Andersson (Songs From The Second Hour). has caused frustration and anger within the film industry. if not among the public the is adored by young Swedes).

30 THE LIST 5—9:" Jii‘

to fail with Together’

Together is a film that could lead Swedish cinema out of the shadow of Bergman

‘I’rince .\'asecm Hussein said in some intcryiew I read that he wasn‘t really that popular in Iingland because he was a winner. and because people liked losers like I’i'incess I)iana.. notes Moody'sson. 'I think it‘s a bit like that in Sweden: people don‘t want you

to get too successful. Actually. I think quite a lot of

people wanted me to fail with 'logt'I/it'r.~

Moody'sson's appearance today is a lot tougher

than two years ago at the lidinburgh International l‘ilm liestiyal. IIis floppy hair has been shayed down to a crew cut. which together with his jeans and '1‘- shirt giyes him a yobbish appearance that belies his warmth. ‘l‘ye changed mostly for the better.’ he insists. ‘When you are pushed around by people. you really need to answer some questions about yourself. I haye grown quite a lot. and haye become more sure about what I want to make and who I am as a person.~ But. he adds. ‘that can be both good and bad. because you lose a little bit of your innocence.‘

I suggest that 'IbgeI/u'r is. on one leyel. all about people trying to rediscoyer their lost innocence. ‘()ne of the sentences that I had written in my sketch book was actually something about returning to innocence.‘ he reyeals. ‘So the children who are brought into the commune from the outside want to go back and take away all the sex and all the filth

they see in the adult world. That was definitely one of

the things I wanted to deal with.’ .\I()ULI_\'S.st)lt is 33. hut it is clear front Show .ilt' Lore and Together that he has an affinity with children. like a child

‘People don’t want you to he is constantly P 5‘ get too successful _ . ' quite surprised by things. ‘_ a lot of people wanted me

he says. which is partly why his films

many of his peers' work. Mostly. though. it is fatherhood that inspire their positiye tone.

‘I can be Very depressed about the world. but I cannot really be pessimistic. That means you don‘t really think it’s going to be better. which means you shouldn't haye had children. lIaying them was the biggest change eyer in my life. There will probably neyer be a bigger one. At least not until I die.‘ A very Bergman-esque sentiment. that.

Together plays at the GFT, Glasgow and Cameo, Edinburgh from Fri 13 Jul. See review, page 34.

lack the bleakness of

film@list.co.uk

ﬁghts. camera. action . . .

FOLLOWING UP THE LISTS recent Scottish Filmmakers Special, Rough cuts is happy to report a flurry of local filmmaking activity. First up is The Window Cleaner. being directed by Steven Morrison who previously spent the better part of a year working in his garden shed making the BAFTA Newcomer award-winning fantasy Frog. Morrison‘s working on a larger budget this time — £60,000 - much of which will fund the extensive special effects required to tell the story of a greedy boy who turns into a cyclops.

A FEW YEARS AGO, Taiwanese female director Yi-Fang Lee came to Scotland to sign up for a postgrade degree in Film and TV at the Edinburgh College of Art. Now Lee is making a film about the Chinese immigrant experience, Sweet And Sour, which concerns a Cantonese couple running a restaurant in Edinburgh. FREEBIES? THi’ L/ST HAS three sets 9‘ awets to the EMU) Preste‘, (JOLLUQ l)|iI t’DOL/b/e frown/e am That's The Way It /.’3i Mus ta’? by Ei‘JIS Pr€;5“:',’ Film Secret. president Gerri," Mr.l-a“:eﬁ; at Edinburgh's The Lumiere Cinema on Saturday 14 Juiy. And we'll throw in a Way /t ls film poster and Live Greatest Hits CD too. Ail you gots to do 13 send in a postcard wrth the correct ansxxer to this riuestion: What CitStitigciiShE‘" the 1969 fllm Char/of from Elvis' other soreen appearances?